A repeat of the last two years' finals with Horsham fielding a much stronger 1st Team against EG Ladies' 2nd Team, playing as our 1st Team

Sussex Cup Final

​EGHC Ladies 1st / 2nd Team

Horsham Ladies 5:2 East Grinstead Ladies

May 6th 2017

The match began with an evenly balanced and cagey period broken by Pip Chapman when she took a quick free hit just out side the circle. She finished off the move herself, scoring with a reverse shot.

Horsham pressure followed with a number of short corners kept out by the EG defence. However after the continued pressure, Horsham they were awarded a dubious stroke, bringing the scores level. Horsham subsequently took the lead just before half time.

The second half continued with more Horsham pressure before a break away by EG resulting in Robyn Bentley scoring from an acute angle on the reverse.

Horsham then took the lead and gradually as EG moved forward Horsham were able to exploit the gaps and scored two further goals.

Click HERE to check out the photo gallery with some great actions shots of the match.

The small difference between the teams on the day did not reflect the two league difference between the team and the Ladies 2's should look forward to the challenge of South League 2 next season after being promoted as Champions.

A little quieter this week with a number of sides inactive due to the half term break, but irrespective of that, another successful set of results - for the first time this season we went undefeated across the club.

Senior sides played 7, won 5, drew 2, lost 0, with an aggregate score of 31-12, followed up by 3 wins out of 3 for the age group sides on Sunday.

Click “continue reading” for all the details…

Helen Prinsloo was one of four players to score twice for the Ladies 2’s, in the process passing 100 goals for the club, so congratulations to Helen. The 2’s advance to the 3rd round of the EH 2nd XI cup with a comfortable victory over old rivals Lewes.

On the other side of the draw, the Men’s 2’s also tasted cup success, although not quite so comfortably as they needed strokes to prevail over Banbury.

The Ladies 3’s meanwhile overturned higher league opposition as they defeated Eastbourne 1’s in the Sussex Cup. Horsham 1’s await in the quarter finals in January.

George Mustchin notched another 4 goals for the 3’s, and Tony Holland hit a hat-trick for the Saints as they won 5-2 and 6-0 respectively.

With no league program, various teams throughout the Ladies club started their campaigns in their respective cups. EG Ladies 3rd XI, entered as the Ladies 2’s, travelled down to a gloomy Eastbourne to pursue the next round against their Ladies 1st XI.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain against a side from the league above the team set out to gain something from the game. The game started relatively evenly, with end to end hockey, with EG starting to show now that there wasn't much between the two sides.

What was showing to be a physical game, within10 minutes EG found themselves 1-0 up with great attacking play building to a goal from Anna McGloin. Eastbourne continued to apply some lengthy pressure and before the end of the half they equalised to level the game 1-1.

Perhaps a lack of concentration from the away side, however this wasn't to be the end of the half with a minute to go Katya Bingle-Williams raced down the right hand side and crossed a ball to the far post where Kirstie Beedle slotted the ball in the back of the net, 2-2 at the half time break.

The second half began and EG came out all guns blazing, literally! Some fantastic team play saw everyone play their part in what was set to be a brilliant half of hockey. With EG moving the ball very well around the pitch & the opposition withering it was only to be a matter of time before another goal was scored. The third goal came from some excellent attacking, build up play for Micki Scott to fire the ball passed the keeper. 3-2 up time to be composed and build on the lead....

The fourth and final goal came from a pounding of the home teams goal, with a penalty corner being slotted in the goal by Georgina Cremin. End result, 4-2 winners and showing a very composed performance against a very physical side who maybe expected a different result!! A great performance & through to the next round of the Cup.

The 3's continued with another win over St Francis. The team without 3 regular players in the side played a good solid passing game and were not intimidated by their opposition. Again George Mustchin scored 4 goals with 1 from Ken Headlam.

As the Autumn mists swirled around the Crowborough Astro, 14 gladiators dressed in white prepared to take on the challenge of this Crowborough team. They ran through the normal rigorous warm up of chatting, passing a ball and then chatting some more. All was set in place for an exciting contest...

The first half was edgy with the Saints playing a wider game and occasionally breaking into sprints. Tony carried the greatest threat in the first half in spite of Dave's amazing off the ball running: he seemed to be wherever the ball wasn't. Tony managed to score two and Mike one in the first half. In a desperate attempt to avoid an early jug, Tony played some interesting air shots in front of their goal, causing one member of the opposition to think that he had been challenged to a duel. Fortunately before Tony Skywalker could have another swish at the air the half came to an end.

In the second half, the Saints seemed to have more shape and passed more, whether this was due to an amazing tactical team talk from Pat, or old joints refusing to move, we shall never know. Pete, aka Gobby the House Elf, kept the back line in order and they rarely looked like being broken and our poor goalie was a little underwhelmed by the whole experience: he touched the ball only a couple of times all afternoon. On the attack, it was Junior Jack who led the way, stepping over tackles and keeping out of Dave's orbit. The second half saw Mike, Junior Jack and finally Tony 'The Jug-Dodger' scoring.

This was a good solid performance and there was some high quality hockey played. We should have scored a few more goals. There were also our three penalty corners, injected by Dave, Tony and Cremmers respectively, which had all the speed and accuracy of an aged penguin laying an egg: none of them managed to push the ball more than a metre! Training on Monday will involve those three in the corner with a bucket and spade working out how to inject on a sand-based surface!